Well, I started setting up the 125G again. Aiming for a natural setup, so itll be a month or more before flooding and a few months after that for cycling and growing out the gammarus/backworm populations.

I want a light stocking, something that won't eat the population of gammarus in its entirety. I plan to lightly feed thetank and add dry oak leaves.

The only filtration is plants. This has me nervous. I wanted a stockking plan where I can grow a tiny community without maxing the filter (I have backup filters jic)

My daughter really wants tiger barbs and I want corydoras. I was thinking:

6 otos
10 corydoras
10 tiger barbs

I have lots of time building up the plant mass and getting the lighting right first, but does the plan sound feasible?

Having no experience with big tanks, it sounds OK to me. If anything, could double your school size. Only potential problem I see is trying to feed the Corys without the tiger barbs snarfing it all._________________Fishing in the Rivers of Light

(1) I'm a tinkerer. Want to see what kind of filtration I can get with emergent plants. I'll be heavily monitoring nitrites/nitrates and cycling with dead shrimp before adding gammarus/blackworms. After that, it'll be touch and go for a while. BUT....
(2) I have a 125G sponge filter I'm keeping cycled as backup I wanted to try with just plants because I like the look better. The Aquarium has more than enough room to hide a sponge filter though. My stocking plan was:

After this, it's a good question of whether or not I can add more. I'm not even sure I'll be able to get to tiger barbs before I add the sponge, but I want to discover how much filtration my plants can really do. I'm using cyperus umbrella sedge, which grows *very* fast and tall.

(3) Ideally, I wanted to set up a hydroponic filter with my sump in the basement. $$, time and such didn't work out. Also, I can't take anything out of that tank, since it may be diseased. Maybe in a few years.

Are you going to at least toss in a couple of powerheads to keep the water moving? I think water motion itself is much more important than having a filter._________________Fishing in the Rivers of Light

I may be setting up what you suggest, but not sure we're talking about the same thing. I picked up a flood-and-drain plane ($10) for hydroponics a while back. It's 3ft long by ~8" wide. I need to build a good looking stand for it (good looking being key), but I believe I can use it to grow some nice houseplants + get extra filtration. It's one of my tinkering ideas, and it was going to try it out on my old 10 gallon in the garage for a while.

Is a plant pot filter something different? A google search result reveals you suggesting this to others, but I didn't find a description, only pictures of plant pots filled with water.

A plant pot filter is a concentrated version of an undergravel filter. It can be made in any container but a terracotta plant pot adds weight & fits in easier with tank decor.
You pump water up from the bottom of the pot which is filled with aragrog, filter noodles, foam or any media with a layer of gravel over the top. The water then is pulled down through the media.
It takes a powerhead, a pipe with a few holes at the bottom a container & media. Cheap , easy, effective and safe for small fish so is often used in fry tanks.